Page 189 - PERSIAN 5 1905_1911

REVIEW BY THE POLITICAL RESIDENT IN THE PERSIAN GOLF. 5

became a question either of conniving at the payment of duty by our traders, in
the face of the protests of the Customs Administration to persons with no autho­
rity to take it, and thereby theoretically encouraging them in their defiance of the
Persian Government, or, in the alternative, of possibly endangering the safety of
the British telegraph stations and line by preventing our subjects from so
paying. Fortunately the Derya Regi's efforts resulted in the temporary adjustment
jof the matter before it became acute.
From the Arab side there is not much
Reports (rom Arab region.
for special comment.
At Maskat the chief events have been the conclusion of the French Flag
negotiations, already alluded to : the
Maskat.
wreck of the Hamburg-Amerika Line’s
“ Teutonia ”, homeward bound, on the southern confines of Maskat territory and
the subsequent escape of the crew and passengers to Maskat: the incidence of
a new phase of the arms traffic, namely the smuggling of arms from Maskat by
Somalis, likely to become a question of some importance owing to the interest
of the Italian Government in its suppression : and finally the loss by the Sultan of
his chief official warrior Sheikh Suleiman bin Suweilim, who was treacherously
murdered during the year.
From the Trucial Coast except for the Shargah-Abu Musa question, dealt
in the Bushire report, there has been
Trucial Coast.
nothing worthy of special record.
At Bahrein the attitude of the Sheikh has much improved and the year has
been politically quiet and uneventful, but
Bahrein.
the prosperity of the principality has
suffered both from the slackness in the world’s pearl market on which its pros-
perity greatly depends, and also from a severe outbreak of plague between April
and July 1907 daring which some 3,000 seizures and 2,000 deaths were reported.
Sheikh Ali bin Ahmed the Bahrein exile at Bombay having completed 3*
years out of the 5 years banishment to which he was sentenced, his petition for
permission to return to Bahrein under adequate conditions was at the request of
the Sheikh forwarded to Government with support, the state of Bahrein and the
improved attitude of the ruling Sheikh seeming to make that course now unobjec­
tionable. Sanction to his return was expected soon after the end of the year.
Koweit affairs progressed satisfactorily throughout the year so far as our
relations with the Sheikh are concerned
Koweit.
and the latter although a self- .villed potent­
ate who requires treating with a great deal of care, has given renewed evidence of
his conviction that his interests lie in close association with the British Govern­
ment.
The contraband traffic in arms to his port has unfortunately gone on sub rosa
as usual, but except as a part of the general question the traffic to Koweit is not
endowed with such immediate importance to us at present as to necessitate
specific treatment apart from our efforts to stop the traffic as a whole from the
fountain head at Maskat.
The Sheikh has acquiesced at our instance in the institution of simple
quarantine measures by our Assistant Surgeon in respect of vessels calling at
Quarantine Koweit, but it is to be feared that his atti-
lman ,ne' tude in this regard is not a very honest one
and may prove a source of difficulty to us in the future.
In regard to the Gulf Quarantine Administration generally it will be seen
from the Residency Surgeon’s memorandum that the Home and Indian Govern­
ments have improved the service at considerable expense during the year in
order to bring it up to date and to disarm as far as possible the hostile criticism
ofourrdgime which international jealousy so readily generates in this connection.